Interview Preparation
by Chrikaru
Summary: Drabbles from the 'Job Interview' universe - mostly focusing on fluffy moments between Relena and Heero that get pushed aside by the actual storyline in the main story or insights into the characters.Some omake/parody too. Hope you enjoy it! UPDATED!
1. Nocturnal Disturbance

**Author's note:** This is just a series of drabbles from the **Job Interview** world because I write a lot more than what is published in each chapter.

If you haven't read Job Interview this will probably not make very much sense so please click through to my profile and read it first - thank you!

For those of you who have read Job Interview (new chapter is up!), I hope you enjoy these asides; some are just character sketches or odd ideas that diverge too much from the main storyline...and some are just plain farcical...

This particular chapter is set just after Relena enters the company and is announced as Heero's wife; some of you might remember that Relena wasn't very happy with Heero's choice of method and when cornered by a workmate in the bathroom after the meeting she shares some secrets about their wedded life...read on to find out what!

* * *

*

*

* * *

Heero looked up as Doris came into his office to deposit yet another box on his desk. His brows drawn low in confusion, he called after her as she made to leave without saying anything.

The superior smile on her face made him nervous. Did she know why everyone was sending him this stuff?

"Who is this from?" he picked up the nasal inhaler she had just added to the pile.

"I think that one's from Matsuda, in the publicity department."

She left while he was still staring at the box in confusion. Had he missed some joke? Or was Matsuda trying to hint that he had sounded nasally in his last interview?

He picked up the box beneath the inhaler. It was a cold remedy, designed to unblock one's nose if taken last thing at night before sleeping.

The one next to that was a clip, designed to stop snoring...just as he worked out the connection between the assorted items he had been gifted with that morning, Duo entered the room with no more than a perfunctory knock, carrying yet another box.

He looked disappointed, "Oh, looks like you already have this one"

Heero glared at him.

Glares usually worked when you wanted to get information out of somebody. Unless that somebody happened to be someone who had been blessed/cursed with naturally thick skin and had grown immune to the glares after many years of repeated exposure.

"What is this all about Duo? Why does everyone seem to think that I need help with a snoring problem?"

Duo yawned, trying to look disinterested but the sparkle of mischief in his eye gave him away.

"There's a rumour going around that your nose gets a bit noisy at night"

Heero looked indignant,

"That's completely untrue. I don't snore"

Duo fixed him in a stare,

"How would you know when you're sleeping?"

Heero glared right back, "I just know, okay. I don't snore"

Duo held his hands up in mock surrender,

"Okay, okay, whatever you say. I'm just saying that you should probably get a second opinion on that"

Heero opened his mouth to retaliate, then paused. Relena. She would know if he snored or not.

"I'll ask Relena" he finally replied, with some measure of triumph.

Duo raised one eyebrow and Heero scowled again. He knew Duo just did that to rub in the fact that Heero couldn't.

"What if she's the source of the rumour?"

Duo stated the obvious possibility that Heero had not yet considered.

Could Relena have complained about his snoring? Maybe she had been too nervous to say anything to his face...Heero flushed. Snoring was an old-man problem and he was most certainly not an old man...somehow his pride was pricked at the thought of Relena being disturbed by him snoring, of all things.

Duo indicated the pile of anti-snoring products on Heero's desk,

"I think this is just an indication of how popular your wife has become already. I guess they feel sorry for her having to put up with your snoring every night."

By this stage Heero's face was irreparably red. Heero was not the blushing sort, but he was blushing now.

His mouth pulled into a line, "I'll sort this out"

That night Relena was surprised to see Heero already in bed when she came out of the en suite bathroom.

"Heero? Don't you need into the bathroom?"

"No thank you"

His voice was strangely muffled, but with his back turned she couldn't see any reason for it. Feeling something odd about his stiffness, but not yet knowing him well enough to say anything, Relena shrugged and slid into bed beside him.

"Night night Heero"

"Goodnight"

There was a pause, he obviously wanted to say more.

Then he spoke again, his voice strangely formal,

"I hope that my snoring doesn't keep you awake tonight"

Relena's eyes widened in shock, then she tried to hide a snigger as she snuggled into the bedcovers.

She couldn't believe that the rumour she had started had finally caught up with Heero.

Trying to keep the laughter out of her voice, she spoke.

"It's okay, I'm sure it won't"

Heero's eyes widened and he readjusted the nasal clip uncomfortably - it was true!

Relena turned over to sleep, a grin on her face.

Maybe in the morning she could tell him that he didn't snore at all.

Then again, maybe not.

* * *

*

*

* * *

**Author's note:** Thanks for reading and hope you liked it - more random drabbles to come but I will of course be focusing on the main story!

Hope to see you again soon!

Chrikaru


	2. Master Storyteller

Author's note: Hi again everyone and welcome back after a long absence on my part - sorry! For anyone who is coming to this story without first reading Job Interview: This is a collection of drabbles, one-shots, missing scenes and omake (parody) set in the universe of that story. As such there is no connection between each chapter and each scene will make very little sense without the context of the main story.

For those waiting for the next chapter of Job Interview, I will be doing a final read-through and uploading directly after this story. (Have decided to do this one first so Job Interview shows up first in story listings)

This scene is set shortly after Heero, Relena and Josh move in together and before the Winner family arrive

Thank you to everyone for reading and hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**Master Storyteller**

Josh carefully picked out his favourite book and got himself settled in bed with just enough room beside him for Heero to sit down to read. He was still sitting up with the book spread expectantly across his lap when Heero turned out the light and began to pull the bedroom door shut behind him.

Josh let out a wail and Heero paused in closing the door.

"What's wrong?"

Josh blinked at him; didn't he know by now how things worked?

Heero came back into the room, looking uncomfortable and stooped to switch on the nightlight before preparing to retreat once again.

Relena had an important presentation the next morning so Heero had offered to help by doing the bedtime preparations. It was his first time putting Josh to bed without her help and he had a dread of something going wrong. He hadn't elaborated on what exactly could go wrong that could be so awful...but suddenly being in the position of prime carer made him nervous; he wasn't quite sure he possessed the necessary skills to comfort a crying child.

Getting away as quickly as possible was definitely the best option.

"Goodnight then!"

Heero moved as if to leave but once again Josh stopped him with an inarticulate cry.

Heero looked at the toddler who was now frowning at him from the bed. Josh held up the book with a pout and the beginnings of a frown wrinkling his forehead.

"You forgot the story"

"Oh...oh right",

Heero crossed the room reluctantly and perched on the edge of the bed before examining the cover of the book for some clue of what he would find inside.

He wished Relena would hurry up...but no, he had reassured her that he could do the bedtime routine without her help and his pride was at stake; he would not be defeated by a five-year-old and a book covered in flame-throwing dragons.

"The Trouble with Dragons" he began, flicking to the first page.

Josh immediately cuddled closer and Heero relaxed slightly, before beginning to read in a monotone.

It didn't last long.

Heero felt Josh stiffen and looked down to see a small crease forming between his eyes again. Heero tensed, preparing for the dreading crying but the toddler simply sighed. Heero stopped reading, waiting for his judgement.

"You're not doing it right" Josh spoke petulantly.

Heero sat up straighter, the criticism stinging him more than he cared to admit.

"How should I do it then?"

Josh leant over the book, his pleasure at being asked for his opinion seeming to outweigh his annoyance at Heero's lack of competence.

"They've all got to have different voices!"

He indicated each character.

Heero looked at the page and blanched, "All of them?"

Josh nodded.

Never one to back down from a challenge Heero started again...but he was annoyingly tuned into Josh's reactions...most of which didn't seem to be favourable.

Now he was hoping that Relena wouldn't come upstairs so she wouldn't witness his humiliation. When the final page was turned he breathed a sigh of relief...the torture was over and at least Josh had been the only one to see his pitiful performance.

Josh patted his arm in a strangely adult gesture, almost seeming to sympathise with Heero's obvious struggle.

"It's okay Daddy. Mummy said that everyone can't be good at everything the first time."

Watching Heero's reaction he added, "We can practice together if you like?"

Heero was already nodding; there was one thing for sure - he was definitely not giving up!

* * *

Thanks to everyone for reading and hope you enjoyed it! Josh doesn't get as much time as I would like in the main story so I will be trying to redress that balance slightly in this collection. Oh, and for those of you who were wondering what Hilde said to Josh when they started plotting to keep Heero and Relena together - this is a part of their plan!

Check back soon for more missing scenes/zaniness!

* * *

Individual thanks to reviewers below:

NightsMist - Glad you liked it! :)

Chixydee - I've cut out so much of what I've written for the main version of the story but sometimes there are little scenes which I still like - hope you enjoy the rest of the drabbles!

animeboy-12 - Happy you like dit and hope you keep reading. There will also be a few alternate scenes/parodic scenes here too! AS for the ending of the main story...well, we're getting there bit by bit!

LoVe23 - Even in the canon I think Heero and Relena are unbelievably cute together (especially Blind Target - I love their unspoken communication) so I wanted to keep that in this story. Glad you enjoyed it! :)

Hououza - Poor Heero - he is getting quite abused in these drabbles isn't he? I'm afriad I can't help it because he's so much fun to tease, lol. Thanks for always reading!

Fanaddict15 - Lol, I enjoy Relena getting the upper hand every now and then. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

19-11 - Glad you liked it!

Evan - Hope you like this one too!

Relena 18 - Updates for this one will be a bit sporadic as they're often bits cut out of the main story or character pieces written or me to get inside their heads without actually intending them to be parts of the story.

Duo111 - Thanks for reviewing!

Yame - Thank you and I'll try to update sooner in future!

* * *

Thanks again to everyone and hope to see you again soon for the next chapter of this and of the main story! Please let me know what you think!

Chrikaru


	3. Kitchen Supremacy

Author's note: Hello everyone and hope that you all had a Merry Christmas!

Now, just before anyone bombards me with rotting vegetables for this not being an update for Job Interview, I offer reassurances that the next chapter for it will be posted soon, preferably tonight. Also, I'm sorry for how long it has taken me to upload anything to this site and i will do my best to update more regularly. Just for those of you who haven't seen my profile: I took a job working on an island without internet for 6 weeks and then moved home from Italy to the U.K. and am currently working on a research paper that is due for publication in March as well as studying Japanese, Italian and Chinese at university and struggling with health problems since June...so please trust me when I say that I generally have good reasons for no updates! However I also understand all too well the frustration of having to wait for updates to a story so please accept my apologies because I hate being kept waiting like that too!

Anyway, just to give you a little heads-up for the next chapter of Job Interview and to ease you back into their world, here's a little drabble (just under 200 words) set fairly early in the story, before the Winner couple arrived. I've also written a few omake (parodies) but, given the nature of Job Interview, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in me uploading them here?

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and I hope that you enjoy this little scene!

Thanks for reading!

* * *

Kitchen Supremacy

"Is it supposed to look like that?"

Relena swatted Heero's hand away as it reached towards her cooking.

"Yes, of course it is!"

When she turned her back to retrieve the vegetables she had cut earlier he took the opportunity to swoop and steal a piece.

"Leave it alone!"

This time Relena swiped at him with the wooden spatula, "It's not ready yet!"

Heero was ignoring her, already lifting the lid on another pot to peer inside curiously.

"What's in this?"

He looked up at her silence, just in time to catch the dangerous flashing of her eyes. A second later he was being bodily removed from the kitchen, with Relena brandishing the wooden spatula as if it were some kind of weapon.

"Out! Don't come back in until I tell you. Or else."

She waved the spatula threateningly and Heero found himself standing nose to nose with the closed kitchen door.

Grinning, he shrugged and went off in search of Josh. He wanted to see how well Relena handled reinforcements...

* * *

Author's note: Thanks for reading and sorry for it being so short (I did warn you that this would be a place-holder for drabbles and out-takes!)

See you again in a few hours after I've made the final edits to the next chapter of Job Interview!

Happy holidays!


End file.
